Topic: Dancing With The Stars Season 8

[marigold]

Julianne Hough Featured in Las Vegas Magazine:

Las Vegas Magazine- Feature Interview 10 Things I Love About Vegas Hough Hits All the Right Notes

Best known as the darling of Dancing With the Stars, Julianne Hough waltzed onto the celebrity stage in 2007, taing home her first disco ball with partner, Olympic gold medal-winner Apollo Anton Ohno. A two-time professional dance champion on DWTS, actress and country music star, the blond beauty is a triple threat whose star is definitely on the rise. Recently voted the Academy of Country Music’s Top New Female Vocalist, Hough shared with LVM’s Leslie Frisbee some of her Vegas chart-toppers.

In-N-Out Burger. They have the most amazing burgers; I go every time I’m in Vegas because we don’t have one in Nashville.

Sahara’s roller coaster. It’s the best one I’ve been on; I went five times in a row when I was 14 years old.

Roxy’s Diner at the Stratosphere. I wanted to work there because they get to sing and wear cute outfits.

Palms Place. It’s close to everything you need, but you feel like you’re at a faraway resort. It’s so nice!

Noodle’s at Bellagio. It’s my favorite Thai restaurant in Las Vegas.

Entertainment. I saw Celine Dion in Vegas I was about 13 years old. I remember crying and saying to my mom, “That’s what I want to do!” And I loved Ronn Lucas when he was in Vegas.

ACM Awards at the MGM Grand. It’s always a good time and this year the fans voted me Top New Female Vocalist, which was really unexpected.

Country radio stations. KWNR and KCYE; I love them because they are supporters of my music.

George Strait. I am so honored that he asked me to go on tour with him this summer; he’s the King of Country. And I have a little bad crush on him.

Family. My mom lives in Las Vegas and I miss her!

http://juliannehough.com/

[marigold]

An interesting article: awww nice

Baby Time For Ty and Jewel!

Dancing With The Stars' Ty Murray will soon hear the pitter-patter of tiny feet.

"We'd like to have a family," his wife of eight months, Jewel, 34, tells OK!.

"We're going to start working on that."

It's about time too! The pair may only have been married since August 2008, but they'd already been together a whole ten years before that.

The singer, whose CD Lullaby is out May 5, expects their rodeo star hubby, 39, will be the perfect dad.

"He's such as sincere person. I feel lucky to have a guy who means what her says."

But first up for the the nine-time bull-riding champ is holding his own on the DWTS  dance-floor, where he is teamed up with So You Think You Can Dance? alum, Chelsie Hightower.

http://www.ok-magazine.com/news/view/12859

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Behind the Scenes with Derek and Mark

Derek Hough and Mark Ballas behind the scenes at Dancing with the Stars


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qz3-BHKkXg

[marigold]

Ty Murray Blogs:

This is definitely the most physically demanding dance that I’ve done’

We got into Albuquerque about 11 o'clock last night and by the time I got to bed it 12:30 and I had to be up at 5 a.m. I went to about eight radio stations this morning to help promote my bull riding event and finished up with the radio and TV stuff that we did at about 11 a.m.

Then I went and had lunch at my favorite restaurant, Cervantes.

From there Chelsie and I went straight to practice from 12:30 until about 5 p.m. We had a good day and made some progress. She tweaked the choreography some more and every time she does that it gets better. I think that's just the process you go through when you do choreography. It's hard for me, but, in the end, it makes the routine so much better.

This is definitely the most physically demanding dance that I've done.

Today we got to where we could run the whole routine and we probably ran through it from start to finish three times. When you get done with it one time you feel as though you just sprinted around a high school track as fast as you can go--to the point that your heart is burning and your lungs feel like they're going to blow up.

You just have to catch your breath and go at it again.

It's coming along and we still have two more good days where we can get in the studio and really run it. We're going to try and get a good night of sleep and we don't start practice until 9 a.m. so we'll hit until 2 or 3 in the afternoon. Then we head back to Los Angeles and, I think, we have to go rehearse at the TV studio tomorrow evening.

We're both getting really tired from not getting enough sleep again. It just gets that way sometimes.

Chelsie had to be up early this morning too. She was doing a satellite radio tour for "Dancing with the Stars" while I was going from station to station to promote the PBR and the bull riding event. When we finally got done we both went to the Ty Murray Invitational at The Pit and it was awesome!

It was a sellout crowd and they were just jam-packed in there. I welcomed all the fans and when I asked how many people have been watching Chelsie and I on "Dancing with the Stars" the whole place erupted.

We went into the crowd, took a lot of pictures and signed some autographs.

It was so nice to see all the support and people were screaming, "We're voting for you. We're cheering for you." When you're around 11,000 fans and they're all yelling and screaming encouragement like that it was a nice experience for both of us.

Now we're going to try and get some sleep before we have to get up and get right back at it again tomorrow.

http://www.pbrnow.com/blog/index.cfm/2009/3/28/This-is-definitely-the-most-physically-demanding-dance-that-Ive-done

[RealityFreakWill]

Holly Madison: Rib Injury Is ‘Nothing Serious’

Following a trip to the doctor Thursday for pain in her side, Holly Madison says she’s in pain but luckily it’s nothing serious.

“We went to the the doctor yesterday,” Madison told E!’s Daily 10, “I just have some inflamed muscles around my ribs. So it hurts, but I’m a lot more confident now i know it’s nothing serious.”

That’s good news since original reports suggested Madison may have cracked one of her ribs while rehearsing her upcoming tango with partner Dmitry Chaplin.

Chaplin adds, “Holly’s not a dancer. Her body’s not used to the kind of pressure, pulling of the rib cage or twisting or doing splits …So her body of course suffers from it.”

And while Madison says she’s banged up, she still plans on performing on Monday’s show.

“I’ve always wanted to do this show,” she says. “It’s super fun. I’m not going to stop!”

http://tvwatch.people.com/2009/03/27/holly-madison-rib-injury-is-nothing-serious/

[RealityFreakWill]

Team Melony  ....love that cap and want one! (from myspace)







original source: www.ineedmyfix.com

[marigold]

Woz Blogs:

Mar 28, 2009

It's been an incredible week in my life.

Last week Karina and I received the lowest judges' total in 6 seasons of DWTS. We love dancing together and really laughed off the score. We did have a very short time to learn our dance after my hamstring injury and all of our steps were right on the beat. Then we were in shock when we were saved from even the horrid dance-off.

Both of us got the message from the judges to work harder at what they want. We also became aware of the importance of our many friends and fans. Whenever I meet someone who attended my US Festivals in 1982 and 1983 I give them a special handshake. For the rest of my life, that feeling of thanks will be extended to everyone who says they rooted for us or voted for us.

This is a new age, where ideas can be spread instantly around the internet. Even humor can spread like wildfire. Huge masses can organize this way and have more combined power than ever before. It makes me amazed at how things like the formation of this country (our revolution) occurred in times when it could take weeks to get written mail from one city to another.

I was so scared at learning to dance even a single number that I neglected to take time to use the internet to organize a movement. But friends filled in the gap, with Twitter, Facebook accounts, and email. National press and TV shows picked up on and played out the humor in our dances as well.

So Karina and I are serious about 2 things right now, our fans and the show judges. The fans seem to be more important than the judges so we won't compromise on our dance routines, seeking the most we can do in terms of entertainment. Just being myself is a big part of that. We both have the most positive thinking about the good of what we are bringing to the fans and, more importantly, we actually believe in ourselves.

But we are working harder than anything to improve our dances, in some technical sense. Being saved last week has given us such positive energy that I just want to dance all the time. Even doing fun interviews and other necessary things that come up on this show takes time from the dancing that I love so much. If we work for 6 hours of practice, I want to come back for another couple of hours in the evening. When I awaken, I want to dance my steps to the bathroom.

This Monday we will perform an Argentinian Tango. Ignore that I called it a Waltz in a prior blog to you. Anyone who knows me knows how I get names wrong all the time. Ha ha ha. Our dance music is taken from Astor Piazzolla's "Cite Tango" and this music has taken over my world. It is as unusual as the Stanford Laptop Orchestra that I heard a couple of times a year ago. This music has an orchestra sounding much different than I have ever heard before.

The Argentine Tango is based around a love-hate concept. The strong (cowboy) man is a bit secretive. He is pursuing a woman but he has some angst about her. She is trying to be sexy and attractive to get his attention. Karina said that I was to be 'stalking' her as we circled a chair at the start of our dance. I put on a stalking face, as though I'm chasing her and want to catch her, out of desire.

Yesterday, Karina told me that my face needed to be more hateful and full of spite toward her. I sat in the mirror and tried about 20 different facial expressions but couldn't get this hateful look. Karina told me to move my brows closer, move my head down, squint my eyes, everything. But I couldn't get the look she wanted. I told her I'd work at home in a mirror and try to find the right look, with a mysterious dislike.

In our evening practice I was having difficulty with one part, matching my movements to hers. I stopped as I do at least once a day, upset with the whole process and trying to figure out how to get past my block and find the solution. Karina asked if I wanted to go home, as this feeling sometimes makes me ready to quit. I said "no" as I enjoyed the progress we were making in the dance and I wanted to go through it many more times. But I stood there trying to think about what I was doing wrong. When like this, I am being very critical of myself on the inside.

Karina exclaimed "that's the look!" Sure enough, I could tell that my entire face had a look that I could not find in a mirror. I could remember my state of mind and bring this look back. We then danced a short sequence where I am staring straight at Karina's eyes to help keep our bodies and their positions as mirror images. Every time we tried this short 8-beat sequence Karina could not concentrate or would even laugh. She actually had trouble dancing with my looking at her this new way.

This look seemed so real and not merely acted or attempted. It was so good it reminded me of a time recently when I was auditioning, in my living room, for a movie part. My starting line for one part was "Can I use your phone." I got so deeply into the character that, after they told us that we could start (camera rolling), I asked the director as naturally as you could imagine if I could use his phone. The director was my opposite part for this reading. He got up from his chair and hurried across the room to get his real cell phone for me. He had actually believed my request so much that he didn't even realize that it was the line I was supposed to say in the audition.

So this is an example of finding the right motivation to get your look and posture and body communication right, for a dance or when acting. Acting is a great part of our dances on DWTS, actually.

It will be Saturday morning soon. I am hoping that this is a very good day and that our next dance becomes second nature from start to finish. Everything gets more relaxed when you get to the point that you can recover from any slips or lapses or misses in the routine. We haven't had significant examples of these sorts of slips yet but it's good to know that you can get past them and keep on dancing your number.

Please don't forget how important you and the votes are. There are a lot of good reasons to vote for us over the others. But I hope that you enjoy the entire show too, and treat this as more than a game. You are important to me forever but I won't pressure you to do things you don't want to. If you aren't smiling, find something to do that makes you smile.

Your friend,

Woz

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=49720779842&topic=8097

[RealityFreakWill]

DWTS' Steve Wozniak to Walk Partner Karina Smirnoff Down the Aisle 

Steve Wozniak really has something to dance about!

The Apple billionaire and co-founder has gotten so close to his Dancing With the Stars partner, Karina Smirnoff, that he got an invitation to her upcoming wedding to fellow dancer Maksim Chmerkovskiy.

"She said I could walk her down the aisle, and it touched my heart," Wozniak told The Insider on Thursday.

But if Wozniak plans to take the that walk without pain, he will have to nurse his current injuries -- he has a fractured foot and a pulled hamstring.

"He's a little out of his element but has the biggest personality you'll ever meet," Smirnoff said about her dancing partner. "He's super funny and super charming."

The dancing couple have begun planning their wedding, which will take place before the year is up.

"We started talking about it and figuring out when and where we're going to have it," Smirnoff told Us last month. "But there's so many family members that have a say that we got to try to make sure that everyone will be happy. But we think it will be sometime before the end of this year. So, not so long."

Chmerkovskiy, who danced with Denise Richards, was ousted this week. Wozniak and Smirnoff, despite low scores from the judges, are still in the competition.

http://www.usmagazine.com/news/dwts-steve-wozniak-to-walk-partner-karina-smirnoff-down-the-aisle-2009263

[marigold]

Holly's Blog:

Ready for Week 4!



just finished DWTS practice today . . . Dmitry and I are working on an Argentine tango! Practice was cut short yesterday . . .I had to go to the doctor's due to pain I was having in my ribcage, making it almost impossible to practice our routine.
Fourtunately, it's no big deal, I just have inflamed muscles around my ribcage which I hurt while practicing the samba last week.
I am having sooooo much fun on this show . . . it's tiring, but each week is a completely new and exciting experience!
Love-Holly

http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=29472248&blogId=479529730

[marigold]

From Gilles Marini's site:



Hello friends,
I've been working all day on the beautiful and sensual Argentine Tango. Cheryl has been creating the most intense full of emotion dance of all time, I hope I do her proud and I can pull it off on Monday.
Your support has been amazing and without you it would not be the same. Please continue to support and watch us next Monday on abc...
Love you guys, talk to you soon... And yes I do read all your messages and hope soon that I will be able to reply to all of your questions.
Much love,
Gilles

http://forum.gillesmarini.com/tool/post/gmadmin/show_single_post?pid=32764702&postcount=1

[marigold]

David Alan Grier Blogs:

About Last Night



I woke up this morning and I felt like I'd been beat with a stick. Kym is getting over a bad sore throat, I had the stomach flu,
the baby was sick, and my wife had a cold...Damn, damn, damn!!!! But I
feel sooooooo good!!! We finally kicked properly last night! Got good
scores 24, and the judges don't know but we are bout to take you even
H-I-G-H-E-R next week with the Lyndey Hop. Today is Torture
Tuesday...We are not safe yet, but at least Kym and I feel confident
going into it. We are already thinking about next weeks routine, and I
will work even harder to make it happen captain!  Thanks for your votes!

http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=38074175&blogId=478815090

[marigold]

The Ellen DeGeneres Show Scheduled Guests

Monday, March 30th, 2009

Dancing With The Stars Gilles Marini and Cheryl Burke

[marigold]

THE BONNIE HUNT SHOW SCHEDULED GUESTS

Friday April 3, 2009

Dancing With The Stars Gilles Marini and Cheryl Burke

Cheryl Burke & Gilles Marini ("Dancing with the Stars"): Have you been watching this season of "Dancing?"

Gilles and dance partner Cheryl have been heating things up on the floor -- and they're pretty smokin' off the dance floor too!

[RealityFreakWill]

Julianne and Chuck: Dancing Changed Our Relationship

Blame it on the ballroom: For Julianne Hough and Chuck Wicks, being partners on Dancing with the Stars has put a new spin on being partners in real life.

“We’ve never experienced anything like this where I have to kind of be in charge and he has to listen to me,” says Hough, the dancing pro teaching her boyfriend the steps, in a MySpace Celebrity video. “We’re growing, we’re learning about each other in a different way.”

Since Hough, 20, and Wicks, 29, both country singers, are often apart because of their performing schedules, the show has meant more time together — even if that time has been spent sweating in the studio.

“We’ve had less date nights since we’ve started this show,” says Wicks. “It makes us appreciate everything more. I’ve found out a whole new side of her that I completely love.”

http://tvwatch.people.com/2009/03/28/julianne-and-chuck-dancing-changed-our-relationship/

[marigold]

Carrie-Ann Inaba at the Kids Choice Awards today



Carrie Ann Inaba (in Alice + Olivia with Report shoes and necklace from Hawaii) shows off her legs on the orange carpet of the 2009 Kids’ Choice Awards, held at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion on Saturday night (March 28) in Westwood, Calif.

http://justjared.buzznet.com/2009/03/28/carrie-anna-inaba-2009-kids-choice-awards/#more-279852

[marigold]

From Woz's site:

A photo of Woz in his trailer at, "Dancing with the Stars"reading and responding to fan e-mail.

Woz reads all the e-mail he gets.



http://www.woz.org/

[marigold]

  she's got curls

Karina at a tvguide party

[Kiwi Jay]

I reckon she doesnt look good there!

[marigold]

  cool we can see their routine

Lil' Kim & Derek Hough DWTS Rehearsal: Lindy Hop


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGuQfdy5ZfI

[marigold]

Steve Wozniak Blog:

It's been a couple of good long days, with daytime and nighttime practices.

We start some dance routines just knowing which type of dance it is. For example, if it's a cha-cha then Karina can begin by teaching me basic steps, and the timing, for some standard cha-cha moves. Then when our actual music arrives (from the DWTS production team) Karina listens to it and starts noting, on paper, the sections of the song and how many beats or groups of beats the song has. Next, she starts creating dance steps for herself across the empty studio. She gets a rough cut of what the dance might be in a short time.

Next, Karina starts teaching me what the parts of the dance are. In an early 6-hour session I might only be able to get a good idea of about a third of the whole dance. By then I can kind of walk through it and get a few steps correct. By the second day I might have a clearer idea of the entire routine. Some parts I get down quickly. Others take quite a bit of time and work.

I'll go through part of a short routine and Karina will complement me if I'm going in the right direction. We both know that her compliments are for my effort and learning, but not for getting very good for national TV yet. She will strongly correct me for other mistakes. When Karina rests and attends to viewing You Tube for dance ideas or texting DWTS people, etc. I will fore myself through a short sequence of maybe 8 to 10 steps, over and over until my body knows how to land each step with my balance ready for the next one. This sort of trying and trying does the best job of bringing a decent step to my muscle memory and brain memory.

I usually go home and play our short minute and 20-second piece all night long while I sleep. I am alone most of the week here in L.A. My wife, Janet, works for Apple back home and only makes it down for the shows on Monday and Tuesday. I might awaken at midnight and 2 AM and 4 AM. I usually spend about 20 minutes going through the steps in my head to the music. That woks better once I've had enough practice to relate steps to counts of the music. Sometimes I'll find that my thinking has gotten to the speed of the music. We have had very fast music for our dances so far. When I get to that point I'll start dancing in the dark and maybe I can't get the steps to the speed of the music yet. But by morning I can usually do it at full speed, at least for the sections I had been working on overnight.

So far, I have gone into every dance without nerves and happy and smiling and thinking of the audience. My joy is obvious and overflowing. I usually get a thought in the few seconds before we start about how lucky I am to be here doing this with Karina Smirnoff. In rehearsals I sometimes come up with a huge grin by remembering a funny incident or joke. The most recent joke that brings a grin is the one about the guy who checks into a hotel and asks for his porn channel to be disabled. The clerk tells him that their porn channel is normal and calls him a sick bastard.

This Monday I will dance an Argentine Tango. In this dance, it's more about the character than the dancing. I'm up on the dance but not so great at the character, for various reasons. Maks has been helping me a bit tonight on this, with some great ideas. Karina and I have some dramatic moves of strength. In one place I hold her above me and swirl her around. In another she jumps in the air and I catch her an a leg and then swing her back down. She does a complete backflip over my arm in onether spot.

Maks gave me a great idea. At one point I move my foot up her leg, bending at the knee, as we are together. It's like I'm lifting her dress with my foot. It only takes 4 beats but I'm standing right by the three judges so I look over at them with a big smile. It's way out of charcter for this dance, but I can't help it. I'm sort of treating the judges like voyeurs at a peep show, ha ha ha. You'll have to see it. I hope the camera angle does a good job. In my first dance, a cha-cha, there was a place where I even stick my tongue out at the judges but it wasn't caught well on TV.

Tonight we had time on the real DWTS stage and we worked out a few parts of our Argentine Tango that we couldn't do in practice. One part relies on the stairs down from the podium to the main stage. By the end of this evening session, we felt good and confident. Tonight I will sleep all night thinking about my body position and movements and especially my hands as being in character for this dance. I'm really trying to do a much better job in judging terms. But I'm still not expecting too high a score from the judges. I don't know why. After all, I still can't really explain why my other scores were as low as they were. I watch a lot of You Tube videos of DWTS dances from other years and see horrible dances getting much better scores.

I am so thankful for my many friends on the show. So many production people tell me that they are all for me. I can't explain this huge phenomenon.

Oh, this week we shot a couple of videos. One was for the DWTS package that plays before my dance on Monday. It has me leading a group of Segway riders to thank some fans and pass out leaflets to get votes. They make you say corny lines but I'm told that the package came out pretty good. The other video was for the Jimmy Kimmel show this Monday or Tuesday. He speaks of the actor backing out of the remake of Footloose and how they found tape of another unknown auditioning for the part. I do a bunch of funny corny dancing around to the music, sort of a spoof of the movie. It should be hilariously funny when it airs, and does include me doing a worm.

I'm on stage at 11:00 AM tomorrow for camera blocking. They get ready for all their TV shots, which cameras from which angles. Then I have a long practice time with Karina in a local dance studio, to get ready for our dance on Monday.

I'm ever thankful for the huge support of all you fans. I beg of you not to get complacent. Don't assume that everything will go fine without you. Only your continual effort throughout this show can take me right to the finish line. Please find the way to organize parties and tell people to see me on the show. If you can get 10 people to vote for me on their phones, that's incredible. And it might be less work than even the effort I'm sure you are making to dial 10 times for me yourself.

Onward and upward,

WOZ

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=49720779842&topic=8104

[marigold]

Ty Murray Blogs:

‘I’m really starting to get in shape’

Yesterday I got up in Albuquerque and went straight to practice right up until we had to catch our flight back to Los Angeles. Once we got back here we had a wardrobe fitting at 8 o'clock and then we had another practice on the main stage from 9 o'clock until 10, but we even pushed that to about 10:15 because we were the last to go for the night.

It was a pretty good day and the routine is starting to come along. Now it's back to that stage where we just have to polish it as best we can and then make sure we run it enough times to where if anything does happen you always know where you're at.

I'm really starting to get in shape. This dance will really do that for you. But, again, I'm just starting to get in shape and my cardio is getting better.

All my muscles are getting in shape and I can feel that I'm getting leaner. I can tell that my legs are a lot stronger. They're not strong in a bulky way, but in a good way--in the type of way that you would want as a bull rider.

We're doing the type of work that is just fast, twitch muscle strength and flexibility, and it's not just bulking up with weights.

I've had both of my knees reconstructed so my knees get to feeling better as I get in better shape. Even my shoulders feel better as I get in better shape. You start to have faster twitch muscles to help encapsulate those joints and really protect them.

I'm doing things and able to physically try things now that I wouldn't have been able to when the show first started because I would have been afraid of injury. I would have been nervous that I might tear a knee or something like that.

Today we're going to do some camera blocking, but first I'm going to go grab a nice breakfast with Jewel. We have a nice little café we like to go to so we'll go there. Then I'll head to the studio and I'll have another wardrobe fitting after that.

I had one last night and the tailor knows what he's doing so I don't know why, but the pants they made for me last night looked like they were painted on. I told him he needed to loosen them off a little. He said he'd fix it. So today – after Chelsie and I are done camera blocking – I'll get to see how those fit.

The one thing about this Lindy Hop routine is that I get to wear tennis shoes.

I get to practice in tennis shoes and then I'll even be doing the actual dance on Monday night in tennis shoes. That's been a nice break for my feet, especially for this dance because all you do is bounce up and down on your feet all day.

Chelsie will have an extra busy day because after the camera blocking we have some extra studio time booked so we can go do some more practicing, and then after we do all that she has to go do a group rehearsal for some group dance they'll have tomorrow night.

http://www.pbrnow.com/blog/index.cfm/2009/3/29/Im-really-starting-to-get-in-shape

[RealityFreakWill]

brief article in this week's tv guide, scanned....

[marigold]

Daredevil Steve-o:

steve-o and jolene van vugt

If you thought Steve-O had a face full of consternation on Dancing With The Stars this past Monday, just wait until you see the grimace he pulled out for the Nitro Circus crew when they got him up and running on a motorbike for the first time. Jolene Van Vugt was kind enough to provide him with some remedial lessons (and kick-start his bike on most every stalled out occasion), but most of the time Steve-O just appeared to be nervously lost in the act of visualizing himself going off the launch ramp. Not surprising, though, seeing as he’d just agreed to appear on Dancing With The Stars and was now putting his soon-to-be waltzing ankles directly in harm’s way. It took a few laps—okay, a lot of laps—before Steve-O finally committed to the jump (and the two more he was goaded into afterward), but jump he did, the outcome of which can be seen tonight on an all-new episode of Nitro Circus on MTV.



http://www.jackassworld.com/blog/2009/03/29/photo-of-the-day-steve-o-and-jolene-van-vugt/#more-9276

[marigold]

An interview with Ty & Chelsie:

Dancing's Ty and Chelsie: Tearing Each Other's Hair Out

After scoring a 14 on the first week of Dancing with the Stars, rodeo star (and Jewel's husband) Ty Murray didn't seem like he'll be long for the show. But like any good bull rider, he's holding on for as long as he can. "I think the nature of being a bull rider and being a cowboy is you don't give up that easily," Murray tells TVGuide.com. "It's still really hard for me, but we just keep trying to put in the work." Murray and his partner, Chelsie Hightower, have the Lindy Hop next — a new dance on the show and took time out to chat about their progress and why Hightower may join Murray and Jewel on the farm one day.

TVGuide.com: How's the Lindy Hop going?
Ty Murray: It's tough. I thought I was sore and tired up to this point, but this dance so far is the hardest physically. There are a lot of lifts and me flipping her over my head. I have a really sore back right now. [There's] a move where she comes through my legs head first, so I went to reposition my foot and stepped on her hair and pulled a handful of hair out of her head! [Laughs] But she's tough as nails.
Chelsie Hightower: I had a ton of hair pulled out! I was also dropped on my head twice. I fell on my back twice, once with my mic pack on, Steve-O-style. I grew up with five brothers, so I was constantly thrown around and beat up a lot, so this is OK. But Ty hurt his shoulder a little bit, so that's payback.

TVGuide.com: Are you more worried because it's a new dance for the pros?
Hightower: I'm not worried. I've just been learning from the Internet. It's been an interesting start, so if it comes out a success, I will be super-proud of myself!

TVGuide.com: Ty, you're hosting your bull-riding invitational in Albuquerque. How's that going to affect rehearsals?
Murray: I don't think it will. We have a studio booked in Albuquerque. It has my name on the event. This is our 13th year having it, so I'd feel like a rat if I didn't go. We're moving into a new bigger, better venue, so I want to check it all out.

TVGuide.com: You guys have been the surprise of the season. You've been called "most improved" since the first week and fans are really rooting for you now. How does that feel?
Hightower: It's definitely a big step. It's cool to be able to beat the limits and help take Ty to that kind of level in a short amount of time. To see the reaction of everyone and the judges, it's fun.

TVGuide.com: Gilles Marini was worried about his lack of a built-in fan base. Were you too, not being a household name?
Murray: I don't know. I'm just trying to do the best job I can and I figure the voting will take care of itself. I'm not really one to campaign. That embarrasses me and I don't think that's how you ought to do it. If people like you, they'll vote for you. I feel like the cowboy, rodeo and bull-riding community are really behind me and that's probably a bigger fan base than people think. I really appreciate the fans. Obviously, the first week, I bombed. [Laughs] But it was the fans who got us to stick around this far.

TVGuide.com: Did the show approach you and Jewel together, or one of you first?
Murray: They approached me three seasons ago, but I didn't do it. They came to me and Jewel last season, [but] Jewel had a big tour with Brad Paisley. They came back to us this season. We thought it'd be a unique opportunity to do something as husband and wife. From my standpoint, it brings unbelievable recognition to cowboys and my sport.

TVGuide.com: Why didn't you do it three seasons ago?
Murray: Um, I don't know. I didn't really know much about it. And when you haven't heard of something, you're like, "No." After that, I looked into it and I saw the guys who've done the show — Jason Taylor, Emmitt Smith — and saw they got some really top-notch athletes from different sports. I guess that was that.

TVGuide.com: How's Jewel doing?
Murray: She's doing a little bit better. She'll probably be on crutches for another three weeks. Now it's a matter of staying off of it so it can heal.

TVGuide.com: Chelsie, this is your first season. What's surprised you about it?
Hightower: Just the scheduling is really overwhelming. We were just talking about this. You know, we wake up, do press, do practice, do more press. I feel like I don't stop for my friends. I don't talk to my mom even! But it's cool because you know it's going to pay off. It's not something where you wake up and go, "Oh crap! I've got to practice again." It feels good to work.

TVGuide.com: The judges have said you've been stiff, Ty, which was OK for the past two dances, but how are you going to loosen up for the Latin ones?
Murray: Well, there's not, like, a secret shortcut. Believe me, if there was, I would've taken it. I'm just going to get in there and focus on it and do what she tells me.
Hightower: I think the more he gets the feeling of the dances, the easier it's going to come. In the beginning, he, like, barely moved any body part!

TVGuide.com: How close are you to the rest of the cast?
Murray: We get along really well. We have lunch a lot. Actually Chelsie comes to dinner with me and Jewel a lot. Me and Jewel are gonna adopt her as our kid. [Laughs] She's a great kid. She's the type of person where you're around her, you think, if I have a daughter, I want my daughter to be like that. You can tell how she got to be such a great dancer at such a young age because she doesn't get distracted.
Hightower: We've talked about this many times! The only downfall is that I have to wake up at 7 and I have to feed the cows and I don't know if I can do that!

TVGuide.com: I know it's more about bull-fighting, but would you incorporate something from bull-riding in your paso doble costumes?
Hightower: We'll see about that one. We'll add in the cowboy get-up somewhere!

http://www.tvguide.com/Dancing-Stars/Ty-Murray-Chelsie-1004488.aspx

[marigold]

Ty Murray Blogs:

‘It makes you feel like you played an entire football game’

We came to the studio for camera blocking and ran through the Lindy Hop three times full out so the camera operators could figure out their positions. To run this routine three times in a row just kills you and it makes you feel like you played an entire football game.

This is the first time that I didn't really get nervous during the camera blocking.

When you come in here for that it's just like running the show. They have all the lights and the music just the way it's going to be on the show Monday night, and they run it just like that.

I didn't feel nervous, but I could feel my adrenaline.

That helps in this kind of dance because you're not trying to just glide around smoothly. This dance is more physical and feels more like bull riding, where you can attack something and let your adrenaline work for you.

I actually think you have to learn how to make your adrenaline work for you in all the dances. You have to learn how to channel that energy, but this one is definitely easier for me to channel my adrenaline to the physicality of the Lindy Hop.

Anyway, last night, we videotaped our rehearsal that we did here on the stage and Chelsie wants me to watch it over and over again tonight, which I'm going to do. This dance is so strenuous and it gases you so much that you have to find that balance because it's the day before the competition. It's about how much better can you get without killing yourself.

We ran it three times all out and then we went to a rehearsal studio and worked on a few key transitions. And, like I said, now she wants me to go home and watch that flip camera before I go to bed. It's just a little digital camera that's about the size of a billfold.

We stopped our practice at 3:30 because Chelsie had to come back over here to the TV studio and do a group rehearsal with the professionals because Tuesday night they're doing another group dance. I came over here to catch a little bit of that just because I want to see what that process is like for the pros.

Jewel is back at the apartment. She has a friend who won songwriter of the year in country music and he flew in so they've been writing songs together yesterday and today. When I get back there I'm going to get a good meal and good night of sleep, and then I'll be ready for tomorrow.

http://www.pbrnow.com/blog/index.cfm/2009/3/29/It-makes-you-feel-like-you-played-an-entire-football-game#more